holiday happenings + a general recap.

Welcome back! I trust everyone had a fantastic, food-filled feast and enjoyed time with family and not working.

I really hope you didn’t spend your holiday working.

Anyway, the Shaner family Thanksgiving weekend went off without a hitch. Boyfriend and I tallied up six (yup, six) total Thanksgiving-esq (three turkey- and three non-turkey filled) get-togethers, which makes for a lot of calories.

And I enjoyed every single one.

Before I get to a recap of the holiday weekend, however, I owe you some other general updates and recaps.

Cousin Emily from Georgetown (near Austin)-Lubbock-Dallas came to town. I forgot to take photos.

So you’re aware, we played the train game and danced around Sephora while Big Sister bought foundation.

Daddy joined the 21st century.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for.

Wednesday night, we had our third Thanksgiving family get-together (the first two were the previous weekend, one at church, where these awesome creations made up the centerpieces,

and one for Cousin Emily’s being home), where we ate a lot.

Then we went out. Recently dubbed Black-Out Wednesday (not by me, by actual people, swear. And not that I’m not an actual person. You get what I mean.), Daddy, Boyfriend and I took full advantage of the bar scene on the night before Thanksgiving. Meaning we headed over to the (clean) neighborhood bar, Llama’s for the Illini game (for Daddy) and a nice little high school reunion (for me).

The next morning, Big Sister and I ran the First-Ever Shaner Family Gobble Wobble 10k. Meaning the two of us figured out a 6.2-mile loop around/throughout Palestine and ran.

Then we ate, again. And drank champagne.

And took some family photos.

On Friday night, we met up with Mama and had a nice little dinner (Thanksgiving number five) at Stables Steakhouse, my old stomping grounds. Not that I ever stomped there, that I can recall anyway. And is it “stomping” like angry walking, or like the half-dancing thing by that loud group Stomp? And why would you stomp on the ground? Unless you’re wearing tap shoes on hard floor, I just don’t think the stomp would have the impact, you know?

Anyway, while waiting for our food, we set up a photo shoot, where I taught Big Sister how to find the pose she should use in all her photos for maximum greatness.

See?Boyfriend looks high, but he wasn’t, swear. That I know of.

Then I made Mama and Big Sister put their hair up with me and take a photo so we can see how much we look alike. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see the resemblance.

And then we came back to Indy (well, Kokomo, really) for Boyfriend’s Grandma’s 85th birthday. We saw Baby Harper (Boyfriend’s nephew) for the first time in ages.

He hung out with me a lot of the evening, which means we’re basically best friends now.

We rearranged furniture to make room for our Christmas tree. Preston got freaked out because he thought it meant we were moving. (We aren’t.)

Minus the ribbon, Boyfriend did the whole tree by himself. It looks pretty fantastic.

The finished product.My view from my chair.

So now, it’s time for Christmas music. And Christmas decorations. And Christmas shopping. And Christmas eating. And Christmas parties. And Christmas ribbons. And Christmas glitter. And Christmas movies. And Christmas family time. And Christmas EVERYTHING.

Buh-bye Thanksgiving. You were great, but you’re being overshadowed. Because it’s Christmas.